November 2, 2024

Good (and Bad) News for People With Lower Back Pain

“The good news is that the majority of episodes of back pain recover, and this is the case even if you have actually currently had back pain for a couple of months,” University of South Australia Professor Lorimer Moseley says.”Research on the Clinical Course of Low Back PainThe systematic review and meta-analysis, conducted by an international group of scientists, consisted of 95 research studies with the goal of understanding the medical course of acute (< < 6 weeks), subacute (6 to less than 12 weeks), and relentless (12 to less than 52 weeks) low back pain.For individuals with new back pain, discomfort and movement issues decreased substantially in the very first 6 weeks, however then recovery slowed.This research study filled a space in a 2012 paper from the same research group, with new findings showing that lots of people with persistent low back pain (more than 12 weeks) continue to have moderate-to-high levels of pain and special needs."The authors mention that determining slowed recovery in people with subacute low back pain is important so that care can be intensified and the likelihood of consistent pain reduced.Further research into treatments is needed to help resolve this devastating and typical condition, and to much better understand it in people younger than 18 and older than 60 years.Reference: "The scientific course of acute, subacute and consistent low back discomfort: a systematic review and meta-analysis" by Sarah B. Wallwork, Felicity A. Braithwaite, Mary OKeeffe, Mervyn J. Travers, Simon J. Summers, Belinda Lange, Dana A. Hince, Leonardo O.P. Costa, Luciola da C. Menezes Costa, Belinda Chiera and G. Lorimer Moseley, 22 January 2024, Canadian Medical Association Journal.DOI: 10.1503/ cmaj.230542 The study was funded by a National Health and Medical Research Council Leadership Investigator Grant.